Plowing and planting, riding bareback, news on Norman, only the best

I took off yesterday as soon as I got a good look at the forecast. I was not planning on it but the opportunity was presenting itself to be the best of all the remaining days we have left this week – and for me and Mama, this month. It turned out to be a really good decision. I was there to help Grandpa get the plows set up for the tractor we have and outfit them with some new parts he bought it West Virginia. I was able to do a portion of the plowing and later was able to help get the disks he brought back put into use.


Grandpa re-plowed the garden by the house ~ ¼ acre, then plowed about two acres by the shop to be seeded for hay this year, then he and I plowed about two more acres for a potato and corn patch. Mama, Grandma and Victoria cut potatoes and we planted fifty pounds of Red Pontiacs in a couple very long rows in the garden at the house. I planted onions and garlic an another row and today, after the larger potato patch is planted and hilled, they will plant corn in a couple rows in the house garden and another 2/3 of an acre in corn in the large potato patch.

If all goes according to predictions we will get up to five inches of rain in the next couple of days so Grandpa was planning on being up early this morning to plow the meadow (about 12 acres) and hopefully get the seed in the ground by tonight. I think it is doable, but there will not be any slack time. We can all rest after it starts to rain. Unfortunately, I will not get the cover on the log kit because we are being pressed by the weather, but that too will eventually get done.

As Mama and I were picking up Victoria’s prescription last night at Wal-Mart, we looked in the garden section and picked up a couple more blueberries, a seedless Concord grape and a hyacinth plant. They will also be put in the ground today. If everything continues to grow as it is now we will be overloaded with produce this summer. It will be an enormous amount of work to get it all picked and prepared or sold – which ever is best. What a great problem!

Victoria and I saw the doctor yesterday. I felt there was something missing from the first visit so I wanted to be there when he saw her this time. She has had a fever and cough for several days now and I know the doctor was not expecting that. It turns out that Mama and Victoria missed part of the instructions when they last saw him. They were supposed to get an over-the-counter antihistamine of some sort to relieve the symptoms of the sinus pressure and congestion. That part they missed.

This time we got an antibiotic and the sinus congestion relief. I did not hear her cough too much last night so she should be on the mend very soon. I think she has to go to work tonight but she should be up to it by this evening. She was out on the farm for a couple hours yesterday but we did not allow her to stay too long. During the time she was there we did get a chance to get her up on Toi so Mama could walk her around while she rode bareback. She was ecstatic! She kept saying that the horse’s legs were trembling under her weight, but I think it was her imagination. With a twenty year old steed, it is hard to tell. Later that afternoon the horse took off at a gallop and kicked up her heels around the pasture near the shop. It is good to see both horse and rider feeling better.

Norman had a preliminary hearing on his divorce from June and things seem to have gone well for him. It is very difficult to say until things are finalized, but the hope of reconciliation is pretty much dead and it will be a relief for Norman to get on with his life regardless of any financial cost that may be accessed to him. Right now it looks like both of them will just walk away after twenty plus years, but we will know the final verdict on the 14th of this month. Grandma recounted a great deal more detail than this but most of it is not particularly relevant.

We have a skinny, tall pear tree that is putting out at least seventy flowers. If it survives any late frost we will have to pluck some of the flowers to limit it to one fruit per branch. At this early stage in its fruit bearing life it would be broken to the point of irreversible wounding to allow it to bear all it is attempting. So it is with us. We make glorious plans and God lovingly plucks them away until we are able to accomplish what remains without being wounded and overwhelmed. If we do not become discouraged, if we remain faithful, we will soon be strong enough to accomplish so much more than we even began to attempt at the first.

When you feel the Lord is plucking away your dreams, be thankful for the fruit he allows to remain. He allows only the very best to mature and ripen.